Poll

Opinion

For teachers, principals and school staff, August is a busy time of year. It’s also exciting as we prepare to open a new school year. At Platte Canyon School District, the floors are polished, the buses have been serviced, teachers have ordered their supplies and technology is ready to go. We are ready to welcome all of our students and families to the 2017-18 school year.

The most important renewable resource that we can access is children. Our ability to provide education and training for future generations is the single biggest thing we can do to adequately prepare ourselves for the future.

Tomorrow — Thursday, Aug. 17, as you read this — is the first day of school in Jefferson County, and my wife and I know it all too well. Goodbye, sleeping in until the weekend comes.
OK, it’s not that bad. I don’t get that much sleep as it is. But with two school-aged children — one still in elementary school and another a year away from high school (gulp!) — the next nine months will be an assortment of running around to get kids to and from where they need to be, juggling homework assignments and finding that work-life balance.

One reason why opioid crisis exists
Editor:
In February, I quite the opiates and other meds I had been taking for 20 years to control my chronic pain.
I have a long history of spinal issues, mostly cervical, which has resulted in eight neck surgeries, the last one an Occipital Cervical Fusion on Sept. 15. I am not totally fused fromC-7 to the skull — a curved bar bolts my head to my spine.

Working to be bipartisan
Editor:
Some questions have come to my mind and might have come to yours: What does it mean to be a leader? A senator? A representative of the people? A
servant of the people? A caretaker for the people? A person in this world?
Such questions have, I hope, occupied our senators and congressmen — and president — on more than a few occasions while in their elected positions. They would be large questions for anyone, but especially for the political leaders in our country.

Millions of Americans have Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, on their minds as he again fights for his life. This time, he is battling a brain tumor. I admit that he is my favorite among modern-day politicians. He is a war hero, a maverick who is driven by his conscience, and a father figure who demonstrates exceptional character. You have to love his self-deprecating communication style.

I woke up Saturday morning to the news of the passing of Jim Vance. Who you may ask? Let me explain.
Vance, for as long as I can remember, was the news anchor for NBC4, the local affiliate in Washington, D.C. The 75-year-old started at WRC-TV in 1969, two years before I was born. He was one of the first African-Americans to sit in the news anchor chair. No, he doesn’t have a nationally recognizable name like Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather or Peter Jennings, but he was a staple in Washington, D.C., television news.

EPRD’s mission is to improve the quality of life
Editor:
We at Evergreen Park & Recreation District were distressed to learn from a letter to the editor in the Canyon Courier on July 12, 2017, that the family of a disabled patron felt mistreated at one of our pools.

The people of Colorado would’ve been well served had Ed Perlmutter become our 43rd governor in 2019.
Perlmutter, who served eight years as a state senator from Jefferson County, and who is now serving his sixth two-year term from the 7th Congressional District, announced last week that he was dropping his bid to become Colorado’s next governor. He leaves a crowded, and likely to get larger, field of both Democrats and Republicans who would like to succeed Governor John Hickenlooper.

Journalism, specifically journalists themselves, have taken it on the chin frequently in the past year and rightfully so.
Bet you didn’t expect me — a journalist for more than 27 years — to say that, did you? But it’s true. We need to be held accountable for our reporting day in and day out. That’s what the public expects and deserves.

Get over it, Trump is our president
Editor:
Thanks for showing the Courier’s very liberal bias by publishing three extremely liberal letters in the June 28 Courier. By doing this, you incite further riot and more extreme letters. You can be more balanced by publishing some of each per edition.

What if the debate over health insurance was about what we support instead of what we oppose? What if the discussion included all 535 members of Congress instead of just those who happen to belong to the party in power?
As Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s ill-advised plan to ramrod overhaul of the Affordable Care Act through the Senate without allowing time to fully understand its ramifications failed last week, it is apparent the questions Congress is trying to answer are the wrong ones to ask.

Take a trip to the Wild Animal Sanctuary
Editor:
To delight children with seeing wild animals, I suggest skipping the circus and taking them to visit the rescued tigers and lions at the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg. When they see a big lion lying on his back, paws dangling, sound asleep in the sun, they will understand that his life is immeasurably better than when he was traveling in a cage in a circus.